Silver Warriors control the action in regional final

Schuylerville  It will go into the record books as a 2-0 win, but anyone who saw the Niskayuna field hockey team play Suffern in Monday’s Class A regional final in Schuylerville will tell you the Silver Warriors deserved to win by a much larger margin.

Niskayuna (17-2) thoroughly dominated the first half, yet only had an Anna Torri goal to show for it. Still, it would be more than enough for the Silver Warriors to earn their first trip to the state tournament.

“They’re very driven, and they’re not willing to have the season end,” said Niskayuna coach Alison Broomhead.

Niskayuna accumulated penalty corners quickly against Suffern (12-4-1). The Silver Warriors had nine in the first 10 minutes alone and scored on their 10th try when Carrie Hanks passed the ball to Alexa Angerami, who then got the ball to the front of the Suffern goal where Torri was. Torri stuffed the ball past goaltender Kaila Cahoon for a 1-0 lead.

Niskayuna continued to apply heavy pressure on Suffern’s defense in the first half, but Cahoon made several saves off Silver Warrior penalty corners to keep the Mountaineers in the game.

“I think we had some pressure at the top of the circle and inside the circle, which gave us the penalty corners,” said Broomhead. “But their goalie played very well today.”

There was nothing Cahoon could have done to prevent Niskayuna’s second goal early in the second half. Off the Silver Warriors’ 19th penalty corner, Hanks received the ball, deked a Suffern defender and blasted a shot past Cahoon.

“I just saw an opening, and I knew once I had gotten around the defender and had the space that I had a shot,” said Hanks, a junior midfielder who is one of 24 finalists to make the United States junior field hockey team. “So, I just slammed it home.”